Undergraduate Course: Women and Agency in the Imperial Greek East (ANHI10118)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Within the confines of Roman society, women were traditionally accorded private, domestic roles, but an intriguing body of inscriptions and material evidence from the empire's eastern provinces tells a markedly different story. This evidence reveals numerous wealthy and influential women holding priesthoods, performing lavish benefactions, (co)founding public building projects, and even acting as civic officials. On lower levels of society, women are recorded setting up monuments for their deceased loved ones, engaging in business transactions, and manumitting their slaves, with or without the presence of a male guardian. This course examines the interplay of gender, ethnicity, and social standing in the imperial Greek East employing an array of primary sources alongside contemporary scholarship. Through this exploration, students will gain a deeper understanding of the multifaceted roles women played in the Roman world, challenging and expanding our ideas of their societal contributions. |
| Course description |
Through a series of case studies, this course explores the lives and agency of women in the imperial Greek East. We will read and analyse the (primarily epigraphic) dossiers of women across a range of social standings - from Appia Annia Regilla, a distant relative of Roman emperors and the wife of the infamous Greek magnate Herodes Atticus, to prominent civic benefactresses like Plancia Magna at Perge and Junia Theodora at Corinth, to self-made professionals and freedwomen like Phaenia Aromation, involved in perfume business in Gytheion, or the physician Antiochis, who paid for her own statue to be set up in her native city of Tlos, where she was widely praised "for her expertise in the art of healing". We will also discuss the experiences of women working in trade and production industries as well as those of the enslaved. Some cases of women's collective action will also be examined, e.g. the "Greek and Roman women" in Akmoneia, coming together to set up a dedication to a local priestess in the reign of Augustus. Besides developing the skills of historical and critical analysis on the basis of primary source material (in translation), the students will engage with contemporary scholarship on female agency in antiquity and will be encouraged to pursue their individual interests in their coursework.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should usually have at least 3 courses in Classics related subject matter (at least 2 of which should be in Ancient History) at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this) for entry to this course. We will only consider University/College level courses. |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2025/26, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22,
Summative Assessment Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
172 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
40 %,
Coursework
60 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Coursework
3,500-word Essay (60%)
Written Examination:
Two-hour written exam (40%) |
| Feedback |
Students will receive feedback on their coursework, and will have the opportunity to discuss that feedback further with the Course Organiser during their published office hours for this course or by appointment. |
| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Minutes |
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| Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May) | | 120 | |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Analyse primary literary and epigraphic sources concerning female agency in the imperial Greek East
- Critically assess the interplay of gender, ethnicity, and social standing in a particular historical setting (the Greek cities under Rome), while gaining a deeper understanding of various changes and continuities over an extended period
- Reflect critically on the ideas concerning female participation in public life as reflected in ancient literary and epigraphic sources as well as in modern scholarship
- Estimate the extent to which Roman ideas of gender dynamics influenced the life of Greek and Roman women in the Greek cities of the Roman empire
- Engage in active scholarly debate with their peers, formulate independent research questions, and express their arguments in written form
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Reading List
- Cornwell, H. and Woolf, G., eds. (2022) Gendering Roman Imperialism, Leiden.
- Foxhall, L. (2013) Studying Gender in Classical Antiquity, Cambridge.
- Friesen, S.J. (2014) "Junia Theodora of Corinth: Gendered inequalities in the early empire", in S.J. Friesen et al. (eds.) Corinth in Contrast: Studies in Inequality, Leiden, 203-226.
- Friesen, S.J. (1999) "Ephesian women and men in public office during the Roman imperial period" in H. Friesinger, F. Krinzinger (eds.), 100 Jahre Österreichische Forschungen in Ephesos, Vienna, 107-113.
- Kearsley, R.A. (2005) "Women and public life in imperial Asia Minor: Hellenistic tradition and Augustan ideology", in G.R. Tsetskhladze (ed.) Ancient West & East 4:1, Leiden, 98-121.
-Lefkowitz, M. and M.B. Fant, eds. (2005) Women's Life in Greece and Rome: A Sourcebook in Translation (4th edition), Baltimore.
- Nevett, L. (2002) "Continuity and change in Greek households under Roman rule: The role of women in the domestic context", in E.N. Ostenfeld et al. (eds.) Greek Romans and Roman Greeks: Studies in Cultural Interaction, Aarhus, 81-97.
- Pomeroy, S.B. (1975) Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity, New York.
- Pomeroy, S.B., ed. (1991) Women's History and Ancient History, Chapel Hill.
- Pomeroy, S.B. (2007) The Murder of Regilla: A Case of Domestic Violence in Antiquity, Cambridge, MA.
- Siekierka, P. et al., eds. (2021) Women and the Polis: Public Honorific Inscriptions for Women in the Greek Cities from the Late Classical to the Roman Period, Berlin, Boston.
- van Bremen, R. (1996) The Limits of Participation. Women and Civic Life in the Greek East, Amsterdam. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
- Approach, analyse, contextualise, and critically assess a wide range of primary sources
- Synthesise and critically assess modern scholarship on the topics studied, engaging with ongoing scholarly debates and theoretical approaches
- Formulate and express ideas arising from studying primary source material as well as secondary literature
- Construct and pursue independent research questions and arguments in written form |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Lina Girdvainyte
Tel: (0131 6)50 6693
Email: Lina.Girdvainyte@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | |
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